Ange Postecoglou has denied his Melbourne Victory side needed to do any soul searching following their 4-2 loss to Adelaide last weekend and is confident the team is on the right path.
Ange Postecoglou has denied his Melbourne Victory side needed to do any soul searching following their 4-2 loss to Adelaide last weekend and is confident the team is on the right path.
After a sticky start to the season, including a 5-0 thumping at the hands of Saturday night’s opponents Brisbane Roar in Round 2, Victory did not take long to find their rhythm, and the loss to Adelaide was club’s first in five matches.
Despite that setback at Hindmarsh Stadium, Postecoglou was positive his team are moving in the right direction.
“We actually played quite well when we had the ball, we didn’t play well when we didn’t have it,” he said at AAMI Park on Friday.
“I couldn’t fault the players’ effort. We’re a team that’s going to try and win every game of football. Regardless of whether we’re undermanned, home or away or the opponent, we try and win. When you’re intent’s always to win, and you don’t play well, you’re going to get punished.
“I think we’re laying the foundations of the team we want to be and that is to be a very attacking team.
“For a team that hasn’t really been consistent in our general play, we’re very threatening.
“If we can put it all together, medium- to long-term, I think we’ll be an exciting team. A team that supporters will be excited to watch on week-in, week-out basis.”
Postecoglou led the Roar to successive Hyundai A-League championships in the past two seasons, and was given a hostile reception upon his return to Suncorp Stadium in October, when Victory were handed a 5-0 thumping by Rado Vidosic’s men.
In the lead-up to that fixture, Brisbane’s Thomas Broich stoked the fire by claiming Vidosic had been the brains behind the Roar’s success.
Postecoglou said he had ‘moved on’ from the incident, but he was clearly unhappy with the reception he received in Brisbane and is looking forward to Saturday night’s rematch on the familiar surrounds of AAMI Park.
“Look it’s Brisbane, and as I’ve said previously I had some great times up there,” he said.
“Some of them weren’t (too friendly), but they probably took their cue from the club – that’s the message the club wanted to send out. I think some supporters took that on board, but some supporters were great to me.
“That was my first game back at a ground where I had some great memories. There was a couple of ways they could have addressed that as a football club and they chose to try and sell some more tickets, so there you go.”
Postecoglou was unfazed by queries over the fitness of Socceroos duo Archie Thompson and Mark Milligan, after the former raised concerns about his workload in the recent East Asian Cup qualifiers in Hong Kong.
Thompson described the program of four games in a week as ‘hard yakka’, but Postecoglou laughed off his concerns.
“I think that’s just Archie making excuses for training poorly yesterday,” Postecoglou said.
“Just take a look at him now, he’s running around like a two-year old as he always does so he’ll be fine.”
The Victory coach revealed youngster Andrew Nabbout would make way for Thompson’s return, while he also expected left-back Adama Traore to return to the side after he missed last week’s 4-2 loss to Adelaide.
